About Finken

Our vision

The focus of our work is the child.

In collaboration with dedicated pedagogues for more than 60 years, we have been developing learning materials to educate children at kindergarten and school, subject-specifically, methodically and socially.

The greatest praise we receive for our work is from children:

children who use our products with delight and enthusiasm,

children with a sense of achievement who are encouraged to take up new challenges,

children who are motivated to learn independently and have fun working in a group.

These are the goals we are committed to.

“The best for our children.”

That was the aspiration of Wilhelm Krick, the founder of the publishing house, from the very start. He envisaged learning materials that would appeal to minds, hearts and hands, learning materials that would inspire, motivate and promote children holistically. This aspiration still applies today and is reflected in the thematic and aesthetic design of our programme. We work to fulfil it with care and dedication.

Materials are only part of the route to success.

Learning requires a relationship – all the more so, the younger the children are. Therefore we also focus on teachers and parents as educators. We design our products so that teachers and parents can identify with them, so that the thematic and aesthetic form are appealing, so that they can be used readily and with ease and fulfil the demands of the curricula.

History of the publishing house

After 1945, a group of dedicated teachers formed the so-called “Workgroup for Practical School Reform”. Together they developed and produced learning materials aimed at a more individualised and differentiated teaching method. In countless further training courses they promoted a more open-minded form of teaching and introduced their self-made materials. Soon the participants began to inquire whether the learning materials could be purchased. This led to the foundation of Finken-Verlag in 1949 by the teacher Wilhelm Krick, who was the inspiration behind the workgroup. Wilhelm Krick named the publishing house after the town where he worked as a teacher: Finkenhain in the Rhoen region.

In 1953, when Wilhelm Krick became head of the primary school in the Eschersheim district of Frankfurt, the publishing house moved to Oberursel, which is near Frankfurt.

From 1966, his son Manfred Krick, as publisher, professionalized and expanded the company and further promoted its success.

Today the publishing house is managed as an independent family business by Holger Krick, grandson of the founder, supported by Manfred Krick.

Our product range

The focal point of the publishing house’s programme is kindergarten and basic primary school, classes 1 to 4. There are also several publications for classes 5 and 6. Finken learning materials are used in all kinds of educational institutions, kindergarten, playschool, pre-school, primary school, learning centres, language schools for children, etc. The LOGICO learning game is also very effective for learning at home.

Our materials

stimulate children to engage with the subject matter,

are methodically and didactically well-structured,

support self-directed and independent learning,

provide a well-balanced offer for learning individually as well as cooperatively in work groups,

promote learning that is based on discovery and is effort-controlled,

are easy to handle and self-explanatory,

are clearly designed,

have well thought-out and practical storage systems.

We see this as the best way to support educators in their responsible tasks and to promote children’s delight in learning.

Finken learning materials are a fixed entity not just in Germany, they can also be found in other countries and on other continents. The best-known is our LOGICO learning game which is distributed in more than 40 countries and in many languages, as English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Korean and more.